Fantasia Marrakech
Before leaving Marrakech and Morocco, you must attend at least one fantasia or tbourida show. Indeed, this crazy race of reckless riders, launching their horses in a furious gallop. Holding firmly in their hands their long and thin guns, making them turn in the air like scimitars. Indeed, it is one of the most exciting moments of the fascinating and mysterious culture of this country extraordinarily rich in history, art, and popular traditions. If you happen to attend, amidst the cries, the frenetic jumps, the gun discharges. You will not be able to hold back your admiration for these men who stand up on their saddles to the point of defying all the laws of balance. And for these animals, the Berber horses, not very big but strong and indefatigable, cross each other. Also, brush against each other and leave at full speed in clouds of yellow dust.
The Moukouhlas, the long rifles of the riders, are very beautiful and very ornate. Affecting the most varied forms, many are still lighter with the stick with ivory, silver, and gold. Each tribe had its own marks. All the horsemen have a powder flask made of skin or thick fabric but always worked, and these men of the wind and dust all wear a curved and very sharp dagger on their belt.
Interested in Moroccan fantasia?
If you are a fantasia lover and willing to visit Morocco soon, this is the right path. Book your Morocco tour with us and discover the Moroccan fantasia, traditions, and customs.
How long does the fantasia last in Morocco?
Sometimes the fantasia lasts for hours. They have their roots in the history and tradition of the moussems. In addition to the pilgrimages to the tombs of the saints, which, once the religious part of the ceremony is over, give way to the celebrations and the charges. Good occasions to organize fantasia are the big gatherings of the dates festival, in October in Erfoud. Or the cherries and roses festival. But it is also done for the sheep festival during the month chosen for the pilgrimage to Mecca. Besides, for Mouloud, the festival commemorating the birth of the Prophet Mohammed (born around 570 in Mecca, died in Medina in 632).
On the contrary, talking about dance means venturing into the magical world of music and sounds, of precious instruments and rhythms. In fact, it is about fruits of the Berber tradition, and of the subsequent encounter with the civilization of Islam. Those who are in Marrakech on the occasion of the National Festival, which takes place every year at the beginning of June, will be able to enjoy this remarkable event inside the al-Badi Palace.
The importance of music and dance in the fantasia (Morocco)
Music and dance are part of daily life in Morocco, past, and present. There are no joyful occasions that are not accompanied by instruments and dances. Here again, the Arab culture has been incorporated, amalgamated with the Berber tradition, to the point that it is impossible today to distinguish between Berbers and Arabs, who are now united, being, on the other hand, part of the same Europoid racial group.
For the first Berbers, the mythical populations that would have been at the origin of everything and would have inhabited the fantastic container of Atlantis. Music and dances had a fundamental importance in a cultural perspective more linked to an oral tradition than to a written tradition. The instruments accompanying the dance and the song go from the earthenware drum with its dull sound whose skins are heated in the fire to change its sound, to the Gembri, a small guitar with three strings, passing by the flutes with strident sounds, with an often obsessive background of clapping hands that underline, exasperates, scans the movements and the words.
The Amazigh dance in Morocco
Ahwach: The Berber Fantasia dances in the Anti-Atlas of Morocco
Perhaps the most famous dance, originating from Ouarzazate and the Ttaselhit language region (southwestern Morocco and an area comprising the Western and Central Atlas, the Sous Valley, and the Anti-Atlas in a quadrilateral), is the Ahawach. Also known as the “Berber Opera. Up to 200 people can take part in it, reaching at the end rhythms and situations of collective excitement. In the center of the kasbah, a large fire is usually lit. The men stand on one side and the women in a semicircle. A man in the center directs the dances and music, while the women perform frenetic and bewitching movements.
Ahidous:
In the region of Tamazight, one of the Berber languages, another collective dance, the Ahidous, has been established. The main element that allows us to recognize it is the participation of women who shout very loudly. Let us also note the Guedra, which bears the name of an amphora covered with skin.
It is a dance of the desert, originating from Black Africa, performed by a single woman. The woman, on her knees, covered with a large dark coat, stands in the center of a circle of men. Generally, the dancer is very young. Usually, she wears a black veil that does not cover her face and her hair is braided with silver jewelry. She will dance in a haunting way, with faster and faster movements of the hips, hands, the whole body, stopping all at once. Still of African origin, Sudanese in particular, are the groups of dancers who perform in the Jamaa el Fna square, the Gnawa.
Morocco fantasia as a Moroccan folklore
The best advice for those who want to have an idea of Moroccan folklore. Also, of the whole of the popular traditions and their manifestations is to quietly watch the endless show which will take place under their eyes in Jemaa el Fna square. Not to mention the numerous souks of the Kissaria. In addition to the old center of the city-market, inside the Medina, which formerly was closed by heavy gates when the night comes. There everything will speak of traditions, uses and customs still very much alive today. From the splendid dishes for cooking to the clothes of men and women, to the handicrafts. No to mention, the plants of the houses where every fountain speaks to us of the past.
In the square, you will see the famous snake charmers. Besides, the testimony of a cult that recalls the millenary influence of India. Another legend explains the origin of the oldest manifestation of Moroccan craftsmanship. That of the carpets, with their beautiful colors and designs. Some say that a stork, in a very ancient time, dropped on a house a piece of carpet woven in Asia Minor. A land that is almost impossible to reach. The women who found it also began to make rugs, one more beautiful than the other. Few people in the world have known, as the Berbers have, how to collect the experiences of their history and make them live. Transformed or completely assimilated, with their own identity, without renouncing themselves.
Leave a Reply